The present invention relates to rackets used in net games such as tennis and badminton. According to the rules of the International Lawn Tennis Federation, the height of a tennis net should be three feet at the center. Typically, the net is held down at the center to the 36" height by a strap which is secured to the ground. The strap is adjustable so that the height can be adjusted.
Standard tennis rackets are 27" long and 9" wide across the head of the racket. Thus, a common approach to assuring that the tennis net is at the proper height has been to stand the racket next to the net to measure 27" and then turn the racket on its side with the lower edge at the measured 27". If the net is at the proper height, the upper edge of the racket is then at the same height as the net. In recent years, tennis rackets of many different heights and widths have been introduced. Such rackets to not allow for the conventional approach to verifying the net height used by tennis players.
Beyond having a yard stick at the court, other approaches to verifying the height of the tennis net have been suggested. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,549,146 to Davis, a rod is pivotally mounted to the court where the center strap is fixed to the ground. The rod is 36" tall when lifted to a vertical position and thus provides a rule for the net height. In play, the rod is laid horizontally beneath the net. Other approaches to verifying the height of the net include the use of a chain such as that illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 249,336 to Webb, or a chain fixed to the end of a racket by which the racket is suspended from the top band of the net as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,840 to Blevins. In yet another approach, illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 1,351,066 to Robinson, height indications are provided at the buckle of the net center strap.